Keith at Laguna Beach -- 28Sept2012

Since I didn't have any other gigs this weekend and Tuesday had worked out pretty well, I decided to give Friday a try. I also wanted to try out the "arrive at 7" idea, saving me the two dead hours leading up to the "sweet spot".

For these street-corner gigs, I've been using the "little amp", "stealthily" hidden in a plastic roller-crate. But it's frustrating because I have to turn it up literally all the way to be heard, and it tends to distort and sound terrible. So I decided to take a chance and bring the "big amp", which also happens to be battery power-able, since it was bought specifically to take to Indian Princess campouts in the woods.

Laguna Beach does have an "amplifier permit" ordinance, but the cops hardly ever come by, and when they do they turn a blind eye as long as you're not bothering anyone with excessive volume. So the theory goes, anyway, and I have had a lot of cops walk or drive by when I'm there with an all-too-visible head-mic, a big black wire coming out of my guitar, and a harmony box on the ground, blinking its myriad red lights. It's not hard to tell I'm not strictly acoustic...

The big amp is already on a roller cart thing, so I packed all the rest of the stuff into a big backpack, stacked it on top, and went on down there to test my luck. Because of the shorter hours, I even convinced my wife to come along with the dogs. It was kinda great to have people already coming by, right at the start, and the big amp setup sounded *so* much better. And of course, as always, when I can hear myself, I perform way better, too.

So I was having a pretty good time, and as always, the dogs were attracting a lot of attention, too. If they'd'a had a tip jar out, I'm sure they'd'a been doing better than I was...

But after an hour or so, just when it was getting really good, a cop car whipped around the corner, lights flashing (though no siren), and screamed to a stop right there next to me. I quietly had a heart attack, but somehow continued and finished the song, singing and playing half as loudly as before, and mentally preparing to be rousted.

But it turned out that the cop was there to take a report from a guy who had apparently been harassed by somebody, so while they were talking I quietly unplugged the guitar, grabbed the iPad and slinked away. The good part was, I didn't get busted. The bad part was, they stood there talking for what seemed like an hour, and destroyed the "prime time" section of the evening.

I actually had a lady come up and tell me that they wanted to hear me play, and I had to tell her that I really couldn't fire up with the cop standing right there, so they reluctantly wandered off. And another lady -- there with her cute little 14-month-old, the dad, and the grandparents -- told me that she *loves* James Taylor (though the song she'd heard just before the cop showed up was John Denver), and always cries when she hears "Carolina in my Mind". They stalled as long as they could, but they had to leave before the cop did, so I didn't get to see/make that happen.

The cop finally left, so I fired up again, but the wind was out of my sails, and the crowds were nearly gone, so I gave up after a while and packed it in. We were there far later than I'd meant to be, and I'd gotten to play far less, but I still pulled in 25 bucks, and it was a success as far as testing out the big amp rig (and not getting busted for it), and for showing up later and still getting to be on The Corner. I've had better gigs, but it was still more interesting than sitting at home...